extranet log inPBS, BBS and Teller to merge
Danish e-payments outfit PBS and Norwegian counterpart Nordito - owner of BBS and Teller - have agreed a deal to merge their operations.
Source: Finextra
7-Eleven collects 1.6m signatures backing interchange legislation
US retail giant 7-Eleven has collected more than 1.6 million signatures from customers calling for Congress to pass legislation tackling "unfair" credit card interchange fees.
Source: Finextra
Белоруссия заменит карты Visa и MasterCard на БелКарт
По сообщению главного управления платежной системы Национального банка Республики Беларусь (НБРБ), в соответствии с госпрограммой мер по развитию внутренней платежной системы БелКарт до 2011 г., банки страны должны до конца 2010 г. обеспечить поэтапный переход на использование карт БелКарт для реализации зарплатных проектов в бюджетных организациях, госпредприятиях и акционерных обществах, контрольный пакет которых принадлежит государству...
Fed Reports Significant Decline in Profitability of Credit Card Issuers
The Federal Reserve has published its latest annual report on the Profitability of Credit Card Operations of Depository Institutions. From the report: "In 2008, credit card banks with assets in excess of $200 million reported net earnings before taxes of 1.43 percent of outstanding balances adjusted for credit card-backed securitization, down 132 basis points or nearly 48 percent from 2007. The 2008 rate of return is very low by historic standards; well below the average rate of return of 3.03 percent since 1986."
Source: The Federal Reserve
CUP cards to be accepted by 90 percent of ATMs in US for withdrawal service
China UnionPay (CUP) announced that over 360,000 Automated Teller Machines (ATM) or nearly 90 percent of ATM machines in the US have opened CUP card transactions.
Source: People's Daily News
German firm plans gold-dispensing ATMs
An online precious metals trading company is planning to install 500 gold-dispensing ATMs in Germany, Switzerland and Austria.
Source: Finextra
New York ATM skimming gang steals $500,000
New York police are on the hunt for a gang of thieves accused of using ATM skimming technology to steal account details and PIN numbers before withdrawing over $500,000.
Source: FinExtra
Credit Card Companies and Transaction Data
In an article titled "What Does Your Credit-Card Company Know About You?", Charles Duhigg takes a look at how credit card issuers have gotten interested in psychology - to help predict consumer behavior.
Source: The NY Times
Global recession fuels fraud fears
Approximately two thirds of people around the world think the global recession has put them at greater risk of identity theft and fraud, according to research from IT vendor Unisys.
Source: Finextra
Visa Makes NFC Mobile Point-of-Sale Payments Commercially Available for the First time
Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today announced the launch of the world's first commercial Visa mobile payments service for point-of-sale transactions using Near Field Communications (NFC) technology. The service marks the first time consumers can purchase an NFC-enabled mobile device off the shelf and use that device to make Visa payWave-enabled transactions at the point-of-sale instead of using their payment card.
Source: Visa Inc.
MasterCard Launches 'ATM Hunter' On Apple App Store
MasterCard Worldwide today announced that its MasterCard® ATM Hunter application is available on the Apple App Store. The app lets iPhone and iPod touch users easily locate the nearest ATM no matter where in the world they are.
Source: MasterCard.
RBS WorldPay ATM heist nets $9 million in 30 minutes
RBS WorldPay, the US payments processing arm of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, allegedly lost $9 million in a 30-minute period during a global ATM heist that involved 100 cloned cards in 49 cities worldwide.
Source: FinExtra
2008 fraud figures announced by APACS (UK)
Fraud loss figures released today (19 March 2009) by APACS, the UK payments association, show that card fraud losses totalled £609.9m in 2008. The two main areas of fraud were on transactions not protected by chip and PIN: specifically internet, phone and mail order fraud; and fraud abroad - committed by criminals using stolen UK card details in countries yet to upgrade to chip and PIN - which has nearly doubled in two years.
Source: APACS
Double digit growth in spend on Visa cards in Europe in 2008
Visa Europe, Europe’s leading payment system, today announced that spending on its cards at point of sale had increased by 10.3% during financial year 2008.
Source: Visa Europe
Fraud Set to Rise as Financial Crisis Deepens
The current financial turbulence and threat of a global recession will result in an increase in white collar crime as well as significant changes in how fraudsters operate, according to the newly released Kroll Global Fraud Report.
Source: Business Wire
US Regulators Take Action Against Unfair Credit Card Practices
The Office of Thrift Supervision is the first of the three US financial regulatory bodies to adopt new rules prohibiting certain unfair credit card practices. The Federal Reserve Board and the National Credit Union Administration are expected to approve the same changes.
Source: PaymentsNews
MasterCard Paper Dispels Myths and Highlights Benefits of Electronic Payment Networks
In light of the ongoing discussion and debate about the role of credit in today’s economic environment, MasterCard Worldwide has issued a paper that dispels misperceptions about payment systems and explains the tremendous economic value that electronic payments bring to the economy as a whole and their role in advancing commerce.
Source: MasterCard
Crisis exposes banks' weak risk management practices
The economic crisis has exposed inherent weaknesses in the risk management practices of banks, but few have a well-defined vision of how to tackle the problems, according to a study by Ernst & Young.
Of 48 senior executives from 36 major banks around the world questioned by Ernst & Young, just 14% say they have a consolidated view of risk across their organisation.
Source: Finextra
Visa plans m-payments apps for Android
Card network Visa is developing mobile payments software for handsets that run on Google's new phone operating system, Android.
Source: Finextra